It is considered a wife’s duty to obey the most capricious and unreasonable commands of her husband, without one word of expostulation or inquiry. If her master be dissatisfied with the most trifling particular in her conduct, he tears the cap or veil from her head, and this constitutes a divorce. The complexion of these people is generally extremely pale, owing probably to their wretched fare. The marriage ceremonies of the Tcheremisses are almost precisely similar to those just described. The morning after a wedding, a man, who represents the father of the bride, delivers the husband a whip, which is very freely used whenever his wife offends him. They have sacred groves, where the ceremonials of pagan worship are performed. Women are not allowed to approach these places, and men must bathe before they enter. The mead, cakes, and beer, offered to their gods must be prepared by virgins. At the return of vegetation in the spring, a great sacrifice is offered to their deities, accompanied by a feast; this is the only occasion, on which the women and children are allowed to eat with their husbands and fathers. Among the Morduans, when the stipulated price has been paid, the father of the bridegroom leads away the bride, who, closely veiled, departs from the parental roof with many tears. On reaching the bridegroom’s dwelling, her future spouse, pulling his cap over his eyes, sits down with her to table. His father takes a cake three feet long, prepared for the occasion, and putting one end of it under the bride’s veil, says, “Behold the light. Mayst thou be happy in bread and children!” After this ceremony, the young man is, for the first time, permitted to see the woman whom his father has chosen for him. The day is spent in dancing, singing, feasting, and drinking; at the close of which the bride is placed on a mat and carried to the bridegroom, to whom she is consigned with these words: “There, wolf, take thy lamb.” The Wotyake fathers go to the house of their sons-in-law, soon after the wedding, with a portion of the dowry they had promised; they take the bride back to the parental home, where she remains for a few months, sometimes a year. During this time, she lays aside the matron dress she had assumed, and works partly for her parents, partly for herself. When her husband comes to claim her again, she shows the same reluctance to accompany him, that she did at first. These women are very modest, virtuous, and industrious.